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Experts: Deployment of OSCE policemen in Kyrgyzstan - incorrect step in stabilizing situation in country

Politics Materials 23 July 2010 17:44 (UTC +04:00)
Deployment of about fifty unarmed OSCE policemen in the south of Kyrgyzstan is an inefficient step in resolving the situation in the country, experts say.

Azerbaijan, Baku, July 23 /Trend, V.Zhavoronkova/

Deployment of about fifty unarmed OSCE policemen in the south of Kyrgyzstan is an inefficient step in resolving the situation in the country, experts say.

The Kyrgyz Foreign Ministry on July 23 issued a statement stating that the presence of international police forces in the south of the country will restrain different destructive forces from provoking new unrest and destabilization.

Clashes began between local residents in Kyrgyz cities of Osh and Jalal-Abad on the night of June 11. According to official version, ethnic clashes occurred between the Uzbeks and the Kyrgyz. During the week there were riots. Houses were burnt. Numerous cases of looting were registered. Authorities imposed a curfew in several areas of Osh and Jalal-Abad areas. According to unofficial figures, the death toll in clashes in southern Kyrgyzstan is about 2,500 people. The Kyrgyz authorities applied for international aid to stabilize situation.

OSCE approved the deployment of police advisers in the country. In total, 52 advisers will be sent to the region. It is planned that the group will be deployed within four months from the beginning of the operation.
However, experts say that such a measure may be not only ineffective, but also have negative consequences.

"From the point of view of stabilizing the situation in Kyrgyzstan, the role of the OSCE police contingent of 52 people, who do not have the mandate to use weapons and were sent only to monitor and advise, will be small," Russian expert on Kyrgyzstan Alexander Knyazev told Trend by e-mail.

According to the regional program coordinator, senior researcher at the Institute of Oriental Studies of Russian Academy of Sciences Knyazev, they would not change anything, but sending them to Kyrgyzstan is already used by some politicians during the pre-election campaign in the country.
The country is in too difficult circumstances in order to hope for help of unarmed police officers, a Russian expert on Central Asia, Arkady Dubnov said.
"The situation is quite running, if not to say more - the country is sick and requires a long and very intensive treatment," commentator for Vremya Novosti newspaper Dubnov wrote in an e-mail to Trend.

According to a European expert on Central Asia Asher CJ Pirt, another difficulty is that a proper analysis of the conflict has yet to be carried out.

"Finding out the reasons for the simmering conflict and by organizing mediation would be a better start," independent expert Pirt told Trend in an e-mail.

According to the expert, the decision to deploy OSCE police officers to Osh and other regions might not be a wise move in such an environment

Other organizations such as the CSTO refused to send their forces to Kyrgyzstan despite appeals by the interim government of the republic.

CSTO Secretary General Nikolai Bordyuzha has made it clear that the CSTO believes that 'sending troops there from Russia, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan or any other country comprising the CSTO could have stirred up tensions again', Pirt said.

"Russia and other CSTO members are aware that if they became involved actively with military troops on the side of the interim government a new dimension to the current conflict might come about. The military troops might find themselves under attack as they might be seen as representatives of the side that has been opposed in Osh and other areas," Pirt said.

According to the consultant of the Institute of Political Solutions (Alma-Ata) Knyazev, much more productive would be lending to the Kyrgyz government to restore the economy and social sphere.
"Money is always a more effective tool than a weapon," said Knyazev.

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